With a theme of true passion for aviation running throughout her career, Anthea Jackson takes us on a journey from her earliest years at gliding competitions, via her rich experiences in airlines, and finally to her new venture as a vegan consultant.
Born into an aviation loving family, it was only a matter of time before Anthea Jackson developed her own passion for the skies. Her father was a keen glider pilot and took part in the South African Gliding National each year. The family would join him, acting as crew, while 2-month-old Anthea often served as a ballast for the aircraft’s wing while it was on the ground.
These formative memories meant that aviation was a dream that persisted throughout Anthea’s childhood. After she left school, her father agreed to take her gliding at Fisantekraal airfield. It was here that she knew it had to be her career.
“I remember so clearly thinking, as we were rolling down the runway for the first time, that this is what I want to do.”
Life was not so simple, however. Aviation was not seen as a common career choice for women and the air force would not accept female pilots. Thus Anthea made the decision instead to study at university and fly at every given opportunity.
Following her studies, Anthea went to work on her parent’s farm which allowed her to earn enough money to complete her PPL. This grew into her writing the subjects for her Commercial License and eventually completing that journey and earning her CPL. “I then started banner towing around Cape Town in a Piper Pawnee,” recounts Anthea. “After that I got a job flying charters around Namibia for 2 years and was eventually accepted by SA Express.”
Her unbridled enjoyment looking back on these memories are vividly apparent. She warmly remembers flying the Pawnee around the beaches of Cape Town on beautiful summer days, gliding graciously along the ridges of Stellenbosch, and navigating the Skeleton Coast and expansive Namibian deserts on a whirlwind trip with her father in a Champion Citabria.
“For some reason, the solo flights have always been the best. There’s something special about the freedom you feel alone in the sky.”
Anthea’s joy in aviation only continued when she joined South African Airways as a pilot on the Airbus A340. This took her all over the world and provided the opportunity to meet interesting people, immerse herself in rich cultures, and appreciate the truly global diversity that pilots are often so lucky to experience. After drawing so much positivity from her time with SAA, Anthea felt it was time for a change and took a job in Singapore working as an instructor on the A320. She says, “It worked well because I could juggle spending time with my young daughter and working at the same time.”
When asked about the balance between an aviation career and personal life, Anthea notes that it was challenging when she had her daughter. At the time, her husband was working for SilkAir which led her to making the decision to stay at home with her young daughter. “It was a privilege to have the choice and it felt like the right thing for me,” says Anthea. “It definitely had a detrimental effect on my career and took a huge amount of effort to get back into the industry but it’s definitely not impossible.”
“Aviation is an extremely challenging career, however if it is something you are passionate about, the joy that it brings and the adventures it can lead to are so worth it.”
Beyond aviation, Anthea has built up expansive knowledge on vegan food and the vegan lifestyle. As a passionate advocate for animals, she decided to go vegan over 10 years ago and has used her knowledge and experience to start a new venture called V|EDGE. This company offers consulting within the hospitality industry that enables restaurants and lodges to properly cater for customers wanting vegan products.
With such a successful career in aviation and new ventures undertaken beyond this sphere, the common thread with Anthea is that of passion. Her aviation career was born out of lifelong love affair with the skies and her experiences throughout the world are a testament to this. Now, her passion has driven her to create more fulfilling experiences to those engaged with veganism.
Success is such a relative term that mostly escapes formal definition. However, a life lived with such passion imbued into one’s work must surely be a qualifier for success. From aviation to vegan consulting, Anthea has turned her passions into careers and come closer to defining success than most could hope to.